Saturday, June 10, 2017

Trust with Verified Profiles and Pages on Facebook

With so much "fake news" on the internet, it can be hard to trust things you read on social media.

No where is this more true than on Facebook.

Scammers love to post fraudulent content that appears to be from reliable sources. By slightly altering a person's or company's name, phony accounts and pages trick users into sharing personal information and clicking on spammy posts. And your friends may share and share and share so much that it appears to be from a legitimate source.

So how can you be sure you are really seeing content from whom you think its from?

You can trust these legitimate profiles and pages on Facebook since they have been verified to let people know that they are authentic.

Facebook uses two icons to show this verification:

The blue badge on a Facebook page or profile means that Facebook has confirmed that this is an authentic page or profile for a public figure, media company or brand.

The gray badge on a Facebook page means that Facebook has confirmed that this is an authentic page for a business or organization using public records information.

Not all public features, celebrities and brands have Facebook blue badges. And fortunately, the blue badge can not be bought.

Businesses and organizations that want a gray verified badge can submit a request that is verified with public information by Facebook. If you own want your organization to be verified, read more information from Facebook here.

Twitter also offers a similar feature. We'll cover that in a future post.